NASCAR Retrospective: 1959 Daytona 500
Lee Petty (42, 1959 Oldsmobile, middle car) Noses out John Beauchamp's Thunderbird in the Final Metres at Daytona.
Racing the 500 mile distance for the first time at Big Bill France’s spanking new 2.5 mile circuit at the Beach, the drivers treat the fans to a memorable photo finish that still brings smiles to old timers and hardcore racing enthusiasts.
Jack Smith (47 Bud Moore Chevrolet) at first seems class of the field during the midrace before Lee Petty (42 Petty Enterprises Oldsmobile) and John Beauchamp (73 Roy Burdick Ford) both seize the point with thirty-five laps remaining. Both cars sprint away from the rest, eventually putting a lap over the entire field, and appear evenly matched over the closing laps. The duo enter the white flag lap side by side, yet Petty, running with a bit more speed on the inside line, pulls ahead on the backstretch and beats Beauchamp into Turn 3 as both cars close in upon lapped racer Joe Weatherly (42). Petty maintains a two-car length margin as all three vehicles shovel through the final turn, yet as the drivers enter the tri-oval, Beauchamp, still on the outside line, turns his Thunderbird hard left down the banking for one final rush at the leader. Beauchamp’s momentum carries him up along the inside of Petty’s Olds, and both racers cross the line side-by-side in a remarkable finish.
Everyone in the press box fumbles with their thoughts for a pregnant moment over the final race result until impresario France makes an executive decision to declare Beauchamp the winner. As the race announcer declares France’s fiat over the DMS speakers, many in the press area and and the pit lane, especially Petty Enterprises, heatedly contest the call, prompting the normally bull-minded France to visit the local newspaper in order to inspect the race photos. After a cursory review, France immediately rules the Daytona result as provisional pending a race investigation, and both he and the local media spend overnight and the next day pouring over the pictures. Some reporters on Daytona +2 begin openly speaking of how Petty held off Beauchamp’s hard charge for the win, and that France botched the race call as the latter takes another day to review even more photos and television footage. Finally, three days after the race finish, a sheepish France reappears with hat in hand, ruefully admits his mistake regarding his hasty race ruling, and then belatedly awards the victory to Petty. Both Petty and Beauchamp assert later that the 42 car reached the flag first.
